A.N. hello again everyone. thank you so much for all your reviews! i'm glad people are still reading, it makes me want to keep writing! anywho, it's been longer than i wanted to update again but life gets in the way…. as do addicting video games ^_^. fair warning, this will probably be one of my last updates in the next month or so, as i need to work on my cosplays for the next con i am going to. if by some miracle i finish them in record time, i will try and update.

Chapter 10: All Hell Breaks Loose

Jyou scanned the reception hall to find Koushiro again. It had been a while since he had seen him, and he wanted to finish their conversation from earlier. Although Koushiro had opened up to him about his feelings for Mimi, Jyou still felt like he was holding back on something. He was already on his second circle of the dance floor when Jyou ran into Yamato. "Hey Jyou, what are you looking for?" Yamato inquired.

"Koushiro. I lost sight of him a while back. We were in the middle of a conversation when Sora pulled him away to dance. It's one that we need to finish." Jyou said, eyes still scanning the dance floor.

"Did you manage to find anything out?"

"A little bit. Seems he and Mimi have been getting a lot closer than he's been letting on this weekend." Yamato lifted an eyebrow. "And by close you mean…"

"Apparently Taichi just didn't do it for her." Yamato's jaw dropped. Never in a million years would he think that Koushiro would be the one guy in the group to get anywhere with the Digidestined Princess. "Damn. I'm going to have to congratulate him when this is all over." Jyou chuckled, "Yeah I was pretty surprised myself when he told me. But for some reason I don't think he's going to pursue anything after this weekend. There's something holding him back but I don't know what. That's kind of why I wanted to talk to him some more. There's something about the whole story that's missing."

"Well last I saw, him and Mimi were dancing close to the bar. Maybe they went to get some fresh air?" Yamato wiggled his eyebrows. "Maybe. Let's go check the lobby and see if they decided to try and catch an elevator to their room." Jyou said, walking towards the exit. "Sounds like a plan. I'll just let Sora and the others know and then I'll be right with you." Yamato yelled after him. He walked over to the head table where Sora, Hikari, and Takeru were taking a water break. "Hey guys, I'm just ducking out for a second with Jyou. He has to talk to Koushiro about something but can't find him. I told him I would help."

"You know, I think I saw him and Mimi leave through the front entrance a few minutes ago. We'll come with you." Takeru stated. The girls nodded in agreement as they stood up. The four of them started towards the door that the rest of the gang had headed out in the last few moments.

Mimi looked over at the man beside her as they stood waiting for the elevator to arrive. She could practically see the energy vibrating off of him. She gave a small sigh of relief as she realized he was just as nervous as she was. As a sign of reassurance, she slipped her small hand into his. Clearly caught off guard, Koushiro jumped slightly. When he realized what had happened, he turned to Mimi and gave her one of his sweet smiles. Kami, I melt every time he looks at me like that, Mimi thought. He then gave her hand a gentle squeeze, pulled her in close, and gave her a small peck on the forehead. The elevator dinged as it arrived to the main floor. As the door open, there was a shout from across the lobby. Koushiro turned his head to look at the noise, only to have it connect with someone's fist.

Taichi walked with purpose through the crowd towards the direction he saw Mimi and Koushiro go towards. He quickly scanned the crowd of hotel patrons in the lobby when he spotted them about 30 feet away waiting by the elevator. He started to walk over when he saw Koushiro pull Mimi close and place a kiss on her forehead. He snapped. "Hey, fucker!" Taichi yelled as he sprinted towards the couple. He wound up his fist and as soon as Koushiro turned his head, Taichi clocked him right in the jaw. "Oh my god, Taichi! What in the hell do you think you are doing?" Mimi scolded him, as she helped Koushiro up off the ground.

"I'm just trying to protect you from this scum." Taichi sneered at Koushiro.

"Dude, if this has to do with Mimi, then one, we're both consenting adults. And two, it's none of your goddamn business." Koushiro stated, wiping the blood that had begun to trickle from the corner of his mouth.

"You made it my business when you laid your hands on her." And with that Taichi took another swing at Koushiro. Koushiro ducked just in time, nearly missing Taichi's fist. Now Koushiro had never really been one for fist fights, but clearly he could see Taichi wasn't going to let down anytime soon. Koushiro proceeded to defend himself from Taichi's advances. Then he saw an opening, so Koushiro took a shot at Taichi and hit him with a nice left hook. Taichi cursed and proceeded to run at Koushiro, catching him around the waist, and ramming him against the wall.

"Oh my god, is that Taichi and Koushiro getting into a fist fight?" Sora gasped. The group started to bolt towards the two friends who were currently getting into a fight in the middle of the hotel lobby. Jyou quickly grabbed Koushiro while Yamato pulled Taichi off of him. "Whoa guys! Come on! What the hell is going on here?: Yamato scolded both the guys.

"Taichi just ran up to us and started wailing on Koushiro." Mimi started to explain, still shaking from the assault.

"For damn good reason." Taichi spit at Koushiro.

"What on earth could he have done to provoke you to kick the crap out of him?" Yamato asked.

"He's been lying to us since he got here. Seems like good ol' Koushiro hasn't been in the computer business for quite some time." Taichi started to grin. Koushiro's eyes widened. How the hell can he know, Koushiro thought. "I had some colleagues at the paper do some digging on Koushiro here. Something just felt off. And I was right. What happened after your computer company went bankrupt Koushiro?" Taichi said smugly. Koushiro felt his face redden with embarrassment. "Taichi, stop. You don't know what you're talking about." Mimi pleaded. She caught Koushiro's gaze and saw nothing but defeat. She inhaled sharply. There's no getting out of it. Everyone in the group is going to know his secret and there's nothing I can do to stop it. "Please don't Taichi. Just drop it, please." Mimi begged, knowing how much this would hurt Koushiro. The rest of the group kept switching their gaze between Mimi, Koushiro, and Taichi. Jyou and Yamato exchanged uneasy looks. Clearly Taichi had unearthed whatever secret the two of them were trying to get from Koushiro that weekend and was about to reveal it in a very uncool way. "Shut up Mimi. This affects you too you know. You've been spending the weekend sharing a bed with him; who knows what you've contracted just from being in contact from the same sheets he's touched."

"Taichi, what the hell are you going on about?" Hikari asked, "This is no way to treat your friend!"

"He's not my friend anymore. I don't keep friendships with prostitutes." Taichi snarled, finally dropping the bomb Mimi and Koushiro were waiting for. There was complete silence between the group of friends. Every single one of them turned their attention to Koushiro who moved his gaze to his feet. "Koush, is this true?" Sora whispered. Koushiro continued staring at the ground, his face getting redder by the second. He could feel the tears starting to well up, as he couldn't think of a lie to give them. "He can't deny it. My sources told me he's been living as a male escort for the past 3 years." Taichi continued to explain, without any regard of Koushiro's reaction.

"Tai you shut up right now. Please just stop." Mimi started to tear up as well. "You had no right.." The group looked at Mimi and realized that she might have known all along too, as she was the only one who wasn't shocked by the news. Koushiro finally lifted his head and glared right at Taichi, "Congratulations, Taichi. You are officially the biggest dick on the planet." As Koushiro turned his back to everyone, Mimi caught a stray manly tear fall down his cheek. Everyone watched in silence as Koushiro walked out the front door of the hotel. Taichi looked at everyone else with a smug look. "Taichi, I think you better go somewhere to cool off or else I'm going to start beating the crap out of you." Yamato said quietly. Taichi opened his mouth to retort, but the rest of the group gave him a death glare. With that, he stormed off to the staircase, hopefully going to his room. "Jyou, maybe you better go after Koushiro." Sora suggested, as she realized that Mimi was in no shape to go wandering the streets of New York alone.

"I can do that. I'll keep everyone updated." Jyou said, and made his way out of the hotel as well. The other four turned their attention to Mimi, who had collapsed on the floor of the lobby looking like she was about to start sobbing. "Mimi?" Hikari asked, kneeling beside her, "let's go back to your room okay?" Mimi nodded, and the four of them picked her up and took her up to her room so she could calm down.

When Mimi exited the bathroom, she was faced with the judgmental stares of her friends. "Are you going to tell us how much of this you know?" Sora inquired. Mimi sat down on the bed and proceeded to tell them everything that had happened. Her calling the agency to hire an escort so that she wouldn't seem like a complete romantic failure in front of Taichi. Then finding out on the plane that Koushiro had been the escort that she had hired. She could honestly tell them that she had no idea to what exactly he did on these jobs, nor how long he had been doing them. She could only tell them that he had asked her to keep his biggest secret from those closest to him as he felt that they wouldn't understand. "I really have no idea what got him started. For that answer you will have to ask him yourself. I just want to ask you guys not to judge him as fast as Taichi did. He obviously has had a hard time and had to make some hard choices. He needs our support more than ever." Mimi finished her rant.

"I don't know if I approve exactly, but if he wants to talk about it we will hear him out. But only if he wants to share, we don't want to pressure him into anything." Sora said, grabbing her hand, "Now unfortunately we have to go back down to the hall, being the wedding party and all. Did you want to join us or would you rather stay up here for the night?"

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather stay up here and wait for Koushiro to come back. He's going to need someone when he gets back." Mimi smiled, "Thank you guys for everything. I will see you all in the morning." They all in turn hugged her, and left to rejoin the party downstairs. After they left, Mimi pulled out her cell phone and started dialing Koushiro's number.

Koushiro found a pub just down the street to duck into. He parked himself at the bar and ordered 2 shots of 151. "Rough night?" the bartender asked.

"You have no idea." Koushiro answered, downing both shots, "Another 2 please."

"Make it four." A familiar voice behind him said. Koushiro looked to the seat on his right as Jyou sat down beside him. They sat in silence while they waited for the bartender to get them their shots. Both Jyou and Koushiro took their shots at the same time. Koushiro held up four fingers, signalling the bartender to give them each another 2 drinks. "So." Jyou stated.

"So." Koushiro said into his glass.

"How many punches did you get in before we got there?" Jyou asked. Koushiro chuckled, "A fair more than I expected to."

"He deserved it you know. He was a right prick doing what he did." Jyou said honestly.

"Thanks man." Koushiro smiled. There was a few moments of silence while they took their shots again. Koushiro looked at Jyou, "You going to ask why I did it?" Jyou thought for a moment, "Only if you want to. I'm not here to judge you." Koushiro smiled again. There was the reason he and Jyou were always so close. He could always count on him to never push any issue and always wait until he got the facts. "I only did it at first so I could get back on my feet." Koushiro began, "The failure of my company hit me hard and I couldn't find work anywhere. I couldn't ask my parents either, they were having their own financial problems. I promised myself it would only be for a little while, Just enough to get myself stable again." Koushiro downed another drink. "But it started to feel good. I liked getting the attention from the attractive women. Women who would have never given me a second look if I was still the same old Koushiro from high school. And the money isn't half bad either. Before I knew it, I had become some sort of legend in the community. I got requests every day. I had the ability to pick and choose which ever job I wanted." Jyou gave him a quizzical look.

"It became normal for me and I couldn't find a reason not to keep doing it. Then I got hired for this weekend and it turned out to be Mimi who had hired me. I was mortified that one of you found out. I figured you would all react like Taichi did. Mimi was cool about it though. Thought of a cover story and everything." Koushiro smiled as he thought of her.

"I can see what you mean now though about the difficulties of wanting to see her afterwards now." Jyou stated, slightly turning the course of the conversation.

"Yeah, who would want to date anyone who sleeps with other people for money." Koushiro went back to looking at the bottom of his glass.

"Maybe this is the moment you've been waiting for. Maybe she was always going to be the reason you finally quit the life." Jyou stated. Koushiro looked quizzically at him. "The only way you're going to find out though is to march back to that hotel and tell that girl how you really feel." Jyou continued.

"You're right Jyou. She's my way out. I can't think of a life without her anymore." Koushiro quickly stood up from the bar. He looked at Jyou again and said, "Thank you man. You have no idea how much it means to me that you were so understanding about this."

"Hey, we all have low points in our lives where we do things we aren't exactly proud of just to get through them."

"Are you going to confess something to me now Jyou?" Koushiro asked, his interest perking up.

"Another story for another time." Jyou chuckled, "now get your ass back to Mimi already before I start beating on you." With that, Koushiro ran out the door and started to make his way back to the hotel.